Rafael dos Anjos was forced to withdraw from UFC 196 against Conor McGregr after suffering a broken foot. The withdrawal deprived McGregor of potentially making UFC history, where he would have been the first UFC fighter to hold two titles in two separate divisions, per ESPN.

Would there be a chance the two would meet in the future? While the UFC may be considering it, McGregor is not committing himself to dos Anjos for now.

“When you pull out with an injury like that, a bruise on the foot, there’s not much I can do to help you back into the mix. It does change things a little bit, but we just have to see how it all plays out,” says McGregor during a press conference as quoted by Sherdog.

Dos Anjos posted photos of his swollen foot on Instagram to show the authenticity of his injury. But as expected, McGregor wasn’t buying it.


The latest is a photo showing dos Anjos’ foot on a cast posted by his manager Ali Abdel-Aziz via his Instagram account.

"When you have a bruise you don't have a cast on," said Abdel-Aziz wrote on the caption. "One thing I can tell you -- Conor was relieved when he found out Rafael dos Anjos was injured and I really mean it, this is not trash talking -- I truly mean it."

Per Abdel-Aziz’ talks with Fox Sports, dos Anjos’ foot will be in a cast for three weeks. It will then be placed on a walking boot for another five weeks.

The eight-week period will be critical to allow the UFC lightweight champion’s foot to heal, and it will only be after that where he would be able to get back to training. This means that the earliest the dos Anjos could return may be late April, depending on how fast he heals and gets clearance from his doctors.

The best bet is for dos Anjos to likely return by May. If so, this could give him enough time to make his comeback at UFC 200 in July. Could a McGregor vs. dos Anjos happen by then?

It may be too early to speculate on that since it will depend on two things: UFC 196 and the Brazilian’s healing time.

McGregor is set to face Nate Diaz this coming weekend for UFC 196 as previously reported by Fox Sports.

Though the Irishman is a heavy favourite, McGregor cannot take Diaz for granted. A shock loss is not discounted and such could be detrimental moving forward.